LGBT The Best Gay Authors

List Rules List includes known gay authors, living or dead—can be novelists, short story or film writers, poets, etc. Vote on the merits of their work

Who are the most famous gay writers in history? This list contains over 200 of the most notable gay writers ever, with photos where available. Some of the literary world's best talent has come from gay writers. The best gay authors may or may not choose to speak openly about their sexuality and tackle it as a theme in their writing or in their books. The LGBTQ+ community has contributed wonderful pieces of writing—from poems and novels to fantastic journalism—and many gay writers of the 20th century, like Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams, are studied in school and revered for their work.

Who are the most famous gay and lesbian authors? This list includes authors from ancient times to modern day, famous gay poets, novelists, screenplay writers and LGBTQ+ authors. Some on the list may not be considered "gay" by modern terms as cultures have changed throughout the centuries. Others were out and proud and used their unique experience to create some of the best gay literature of all time. That said, regardless of their era in antiquity, these gay authors have all expressed interest in same-sex relations.

list ordered by

1

995 196

Oscar WildeThe Picture of Dorian Gray, Salome, The importance of being Earnest and other plays Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the ...more

2

359 135

James BaldwinGo Tell It on the Mountain, Another Country, Notes of a Native Son James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of ...more

3

475 142

Walt WhitmanLeaves of Grass, Drum Taps, Song of Myself Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his ...more

4

544 126

Virginia WoolfTo the Lighthouse, A Room of One's Own, Mrs Dalloway Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society ...more

5

345 110

Truman CapoteIn Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Other Voices Truman Streckfus Persons, known as Truman Capote, was an American author, screenwriter, playwright, actor, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary ...more

6

441 116

Tennessee WilliamsSweet Bird of Youth, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American playwright and author of many stage classics. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller he is considered among the three ...more

7

189 82

dennisluccio added Christopher IsherwoodA Single Man, Goodbye to Berlin, Isherwood on Writing Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English novelist.

8

300 83

E. M. ForsterA Room with a View, A Passage to India, Howards End Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and ...more

9

314 123

Marcel ProustIn Search of Lost Time, Swann in love, Le Temps Retrouve Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental novel À la recherche du temps perdu, published in seven parts ...more

10

227 98

Langston HughesThe panther & the lash, Mule Bone, Montage of a Dream Deferred James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz ...more

11

185 85

W. H. AudenLook, Stranger!, The orators Wystan Hugh Auden was an Anglo-American poet, born in England, an American citizen, and regarded by many critics as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His work is noted for its ...more

12

301 90

PlatoThe Republic, Phaedo, Meno Plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in Classical Greece. He is considered an essential figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition, and he founded ...more

13

171 58

Patricia HighsmithThe Talented Mr. Ripley, Strangers on a Train, Ripley Under Ground Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short story writer, most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, ...more

14

337 78

Emily DickinsonThe complete poems, Acts of Light: The World of Emily Dickinson, New poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she ...more

15

210 85

D. H. LawrenceLady Chatterley's Lover, Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works, among other things, ...more

16

306 108

T. S. EliotThe Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Murder in the Cathedral Thomas Stearns Eliot OM, usually known as T. S. Eliot, was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He was born ...more

17

124 62

Rita Mae BrownRubyfruit Jungle, Puss 'n Cahoots, Mord in Monticello. Ein Fall für Mrs. Murphy Rita Mae Brown is an American writer and feminist. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the ...more

18

219 73

Alice WalkerThe Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, The Temple of My Familiar Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author and activist. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. ...more

19

185 84

Gertrude SteinThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, The Making of Americans, Three Lives Gertrude Stein was an American writer of novels, poetry and plays. Born in West Allegheny, Pennsylvania and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, making France her home ...more

21

214 49

SapphoThe Poetry of Sappho, The songs of Sappho, Woman from child (Sappho) Sappho was a Greek lyric poet, born on the island of Lesbos. The Alexandrians included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BCE, and it is said that ...more

22

211 49

Arthur RimbaudA Season in Hell, Illuminations, Collected poems Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet born in Charleville, Ardennes. He influenced modern literature and arts, inspired various musicians, and prefigured surrealism. He started writing ...more

23

135 38

Yukio MishimaConfessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colors, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea Mishima Yukio is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka, a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th ...more

24

114 55

Buzz the Bear added E. Annie ProulxThe Shipping News, Fine Just the Way It Is, That Old Ace in the Hole Edna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx. Her second novel, The ...more

25

108 52

Jean GenetThe Balcony, The Blacks: A Clown Show, The Maids Jean Genet was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond, but later took to writing. His major works include the novels Querelle ...more

26

125 46

Evelyn WaughBrideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust, Decline and Fall Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and reviewer of books. His best-known works ...more

27

101 49

Edna St. Vincent MillayFatal interview, The murder of Lidice, Wine from these grapes Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her ...more

28

237 88

Allen GinsbergHowl, Pull My Daisy, Collected poems 1947-1980 Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture that soon would follow. He vigorously opposed economic ...more

29

116 46

Edward AlbeeA Delicate Balance, The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Play About the Baby Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is known for works such as The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. His works are considered well-crafted, often ...more

30

136 60

Armistead MaupinMichael Tolliver Lives, The Night Listener, Tales of The City Audio Collection Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, set in San Francisco.

31

110 47

Audre LordeThe Cancer Journals, The Marvelous Arithmetic of Distance: Poems 1987-1992, A Burst of Light: Essays Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, radical feminist, womanist, lesbian, and civil rights activist. Lorde served as an inspiration to women worldwide, one of her most notable efforts ...more

32

110 49

Michael CunninghamA Home at the End of the World, The Hours, Specimen Days Michael Cunningham is an American writer. He is best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior ...more

33

131 44

Willa CatherMy Ántonia, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Five Stories Willa Sibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My ...more

34

116 55

Edmund WhiteThe Beautiful Room Is Empty, The Joy of Gay Sex, The Farewell Symphony Edmund Valentine White III is an American novelist, as well as a writer of memoirs and an essayist on literary and social topics. Much of his writing is on the theme of same-sex love. Probably ...more

35

124 43

Noël CowardHay Fever, The Vortex, Pacific 1860 Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a ...more

36

54 27

2probb added Lorraine HansberryA Raisin in the Sun, Les blancs: the collected last plays of Lorraine Hansberry, Spark Notes A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright and writer. Hansberry inspired Nina Simone's song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black". She was the first black woman to write a play ...more

37

96 44

Anaïs NinDelta of Venus, Henry and June, Fire: From a Journal of Love Anaïs Nin was an author born to Cuban parents in France, where she was also raised. She spent some time in Spain and Cuba but lived most of her life in the United States where she became an ...more

38

154 63

Michel FoucaultDiscipline and Punish, Madness and Civilization, The History of Sexuality Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, philologist and literary critic. His theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they ...more

39

197 67

David SedarisMe Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, When You Are Engulfed in Flames David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand ...more

40

64 43

carlybobarly added Bret Easton EllisAmerican Psycho, Less Than Zero, Glamorama Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 languages. He was at first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat ...more

41

137 38

W. Somerset MaughamOf Human Bondage, The Razor's Edge, Cakes and Ale William Somerset Maugham CH was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. ...more

42

175 60

Herman MelvilleMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, Omoo Herman Melville was an American novelist, writer of short stories, and poet from the American Renaissance period. Most of his writings were published between 1846 and 1857. Best known for his ...more

43

164 55

Gore VidalMyra Breckinridge, The City and the Pillar, Creation Gore Vidal was an American writer and a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing. As Eugene Louis Vidal, he was born to a political ...more

44

72 35

Sarah WatersTipping the Velvet, Fingersmith, The Little Stranger Sarah Waters is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.

45

49 36

Derek JarmanWittgenstein, Derek Jarman's Garden, The last of England Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.

47

75 44

Jeanette WintersonOranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Written on the Body, Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson, OBE is a British writer, broadcaster and activist.

48

122 60

Harvey FiersteinLa Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy, The Sissy Duckling Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright, and voice actor. Fierstein has won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his own play Torch Song Trilogy and the Tony Award for ...more

49

138 51

soxcat added Sylvia PlathThe Bell Jar, The Colossus and Other Poems, Ariel Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, before ...more

50

90 41

dennisluccio added Clive BarkerThe Damnation Game, The Thief of Always, The Hellbound Heart Clive Barker is an English writer, film director, and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short ...more

not on the list? add item #258

List Rules: List includes known gay authors, living or dead—can be novelists, short story or film writers, poets, etc. Vote on the merits of their work